Sharing Our Life on SV Nancy Lu

CARRIACOU—February 16 to 20, 2017

It was a beautiful morning when we awoke after our awesome snorkeling at Moliniere Sculpture Park.

After we switched the dinghy from where it spends most nights hoisted on the starboard side of Nancy Lu (for security reasons and to keep growth off the bottom)

to it’s davits on the stern, we were ready to get on our way to Carriacou, about 30 miles away.

We had a nice motor sail up the beautiful west coast of Grenada.

Once the mainsail was out,

most of the work was done by our autopilot!

We made sure to skirt Kick ‘Em Jenny, an active submarine volcano on our way to Carriacou.

Our Grenada courtesy flag could remain flying on Nancy Lu since Carriacou is part of Grenada, along with one other small island, Petite Martinique. Carriacou (pronounced: CARE-EE-UH-COO) is much smaller than Grenada, and we loved it!

We anchored at Tyrrel Bay, a cruiser favorite. It’s just a small village.

There were lots of dogs that look like they’re related to this one that we passed on a walk along the beach to lunch at

The Lazy Turtle

where I had this Lionfish taco with Lionfish salad on the side!

More sights from quaint Tyrrel Bay:

I mailed some postcards from this little box that I’m hoping will be picked up before we get back to the states .

We hitched a long dinghy ride on Tribasa Cross’ big dinghy with a big motor the first full day we were anchored at Tyrrel Bay

to go do some snorkeling at Sandy Island. The snorkeling was fair, but we saw a few cool things such as…

a big Scrawled Cowfish,

Pillar Coral,

Brain Coral with a little Blue Wrasse (they always remind me of a dress I had about 15 years ago!),

a beautiful blue Vase Sponge,

Star Coral with a couple of Christmas Tree Tube Worms,

and a fast-swimming Green Turtle.

The tiny island had some surprises like these cairns people have made of washed up, dead coral,

and this shaded picnic area complete with a table hidden from the water’s edge by a stand of coconut palms in the middle of the island. This little island was devastated by a hurricane, but one of the effects of the hurricane wasn’t so bad. It washed up a wall of dead coral to form a big tidal pool on the other side of the island, which is another little surprise Sandy Island has to offer . Locals have planted vegetation on the island that seems to be thriving. This island is now part of a marine protected area.

Our sweet ride, Tribasa Cross’ dinghy, is anchored on the side of the island opposite the tidal pool.

Sandy Island is perfectly named!

an up-close view

L’Esterre Bay and another nice beach are pictured in the background.

The next day, Saturday, we took the #10 bus up north a little ways to the biggest town, Hillsborough, for lunch and to have a look around.

Our plan was to eat at Patty’s, but the owner was closing for the day when we got there, so we ate at across the street at the Blue Petal.

In my opinion, Patty’s was the cutest building in Hillsborough, so I had to take a few pictures.

This little deli brought to mind Little House on the Prairie with the home attached in the back with a garden facing out to the harbour and beach.

While we waited on our lunch, I walked between Patty’s and the building on the left to get to

the beach with a view of the town fishing dock.

We came back after lunch to let Mark have a look.

Mark usually doesn’t pass up a chance to browse in a hardware store.

I thought the fluttering shadows on the street were pretty!

Vegetable stands are so “photogenic”!! I bought a couple of the green onion bundles that were prettily tied with sprigs of thyme. The lady said that the thyme was for a nice presentation and to make them smell good; done and done!

We took this well worn path to the bus station to catch the

#11 bus to the tiny village, Windward, which is known for traditional wooden boat building—the last in the Eastern Caribbean. Our friends on s/v Brilliant suggested that we do this. Oh my! I’m so glad we took their suggestion! One night back in “Camp Grenada”, Secret Harbour Marina showed the 2015, award winning, documentary, Vanishing Sail, about the dying art of boat building using traditional tools by hand. The main focus of the documentary was Elwyn Enoe building his last boat, Exodus, with his sons on the little island of Carriacou, in the little village, Windward. Our friend, Carl, on s/v Brilliant told us that you could walk by and see another wooden boat being built there.

So that’s what we set out to do. We told this guy on the bus what our plans were, and he was excited to personally introduce us to the man who was building the boat, Anthony McClaren, who was also featured in Vanishing Sail! AWESOME!!!!!!

We met Mr. Mc Claren hanging out with some of his friends under a pavilion (It was the weekend, after all). He was happy to walk us down a path to where he’s working on the 60+ ft. motor-sailer . He explained that the boat is being designed to carry cargo. He’s hoping to sell it when it’s finished.

After watching Vanishing Sail, we could appreciate the process of building a big boat like this by hand and express our appreciation with questions about it.

Mr. McClaren was happy to talk to us, and we were happy to leave a donation in the box that he never pointed out, BTW.

After he led us out of his work yard, we were left to wander around. If we hadn’t seen the documentary, we would have had no idea how a boat that big would be launched into the sea. Even after watching the process from the movie, it’s still hard to believe how they use logs to roll the boat on its side into the water.

I couldn’t help but think of my Pappaw in this sleepy, peaceful, village where such ingenious, old-fashioned, and resourceful crafts are still practiced. There was evidence all around of human industry marring the pristine beauty of God’s creation, but somehow even that “junk” was a beautiful sight attesting to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of God’s most cherished creation, people.

Some boat-savvy younguns of Windward out playing on a Saturday afternoon

We found the other wooden motor boat being built that we were told about. It’s almost ready to launch. That will be a community-wide event!

Besides Anthony McClaren and his friends, we saw only a few other people while we explored: the shop keeper who sold us some cold beverages,the boys playing on boats in the bay, and two other people besides us waiting for the bus to the “big” town, Hillsborough!

Back on the same #11 bus, we craned our necks, not to miss any Windward sights, like this one, as we quickly left this village behind!

We were on to our last stop of our public bus tour of the day, L’Esterre Bay. You can see Sandy Island in the background.

This seemed like a popular hang-out beach.

I was there to shop at this container shop called Fidel Productions. There are two of these shops that sell only locally made crafts and art. This is the original. The other one is at our marina in Grenada, and I got a birthday and Mother’s Day present there last year. On this day, I used some of my Christmas money from my parents and got a wonderful little wood block painting that reminded me of places like Windward that are such a treat to discover!

It has a special place on Nancy Lu! Thank you, Mama and Daddy!

We ended our stay at Carriacou moored at Sandy Island the next day for a little more snorkeling!

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2 thoughts on “CARRIACOU—February 16 to 20, 2017”

Wow Kathy. Just spectacular photos and you have beautifully captured the islands. They should hire you for the happy photographer award. Interesting on the boat making by hand. Such a real craft that is dying I am sure. Using a logs to roll big things around goes all of the way back to the Egyptian times. (slaves not included.)
I love swings. Mar and I used to swing and swing and swing and sing. The playground folks must have thought we were loony. We would sing together and swing together for hours. We loved it as much as skating and singing and skipping and singing! 🙂 Tops for fun. Always such a joy to have your best friend with you. You captured the whole island idea in your swing shot. Maybe one of my favorites of all you have taken. The beaches on that island and the reefs look healthy and recovered from any hurricane. I loved the old buildings. There they are, just like the people, standing after anything nature brings…Thanks for the vacation break. Stay safe and watch out for yourselves. C